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telephone answering service info ?
Q. I'm starting up a small part time business, and would like to have a telephone number that is directed to a telephone answering service, where a live person takes the details of the call and sends it onto me (via email/ text/ etc). I'd also need a number, ideally a local number, but cost of local number and answering service all adds up and I don't want to incur too much cost initially. Thought about an 0845 number, as I have an adversion to calling 0870 numbers. Have suggested using their VOIP service, as I have broadband access, but am not convinced people would ring a number starting with 05, also not sure about how this could be directed to an answering service. Has anyone found a reliable company that they could recommend, and rough idea of costs? or suggestions that I can follow up? What solutions do other people use for small, part time businesses?
A. We are by far the largest provider of such services in the UK - although I've had pointed out to me in this group before that size doesn't in itself imply quality - so you'll have to take my word for that, or ask for some customer references! As its a newsgroup I'll be unbiased and point out the alternatives. If you open your local Yellow Pages under 'Telephone answering services", it is likely that you will find between half a dozen and 20 odd companies that provide such services, depending on your area. Most of these will be mom-and-pop shops (which again doesn't speak for their quality, either way), some will be a sideline for the reception -desk of a local serviced office facility, and you may find one or two other national players. As advice, if your calls are presumably fairly critical to you, I would ensure you select a supplier that has at least 6 call handlers across the hours of service you require - as you want to ensure that someone can answer your calls during periods of high call activity (for them) or periods of sickness or holiday. We bundle whichever you prefer of 0800/0845's as part of the service at no additional cost (assuming we are answering the calls) - the reason being that the Intelligent Networking facilities behind such numbers ensure that we can provide services across two call answering locations in different geographic areas - for business continuity purposes. We have 8 contact centres in total in the UK.
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